On Wednesday during Prime Minister Question’s (PMQs), Boris Johnson was scolded by the Speaker of the House of Commons for the second time in just two weeks.
During a heated exchange between Sir Keir Starmer and Johnson, Sir Lindsay Hoyle interrupted the Prime Minister to remind him of the Commons Policy.
Johnson failed to address the Speaker of the House by failing to address the chair when responding to a question.
Sir Lindsay warned Johnson and told him, “Can I just gently say to the Prime Minister as I said last time?
“He may have to go to Specsavers – the chair is this way, not that way.
“If he can address me, it would be a lot better.”
Last week Johnson failed to address Sir Lindsay during PMQs last Wednesday when responding to the Labour leader.
In a furious rant Johnson told MPs in the chamber, “There’s no doubt what this really is all about, Mr Speaker.
“This is about pressure from the Islingtonian Remainers who have seized on this report to try and give the impression Russian interference was somehow responsible for Brexit.
“This is what it is all about. But people in this country didn’t vote to leave the EU because of pressure from Russia or Russian interference.
“They voted because they wanted to take back control of our money, of our trade policy, of our laws.
“And the simple fact is that after campaigning for Remain, after wanting to overturn the people’s referendum day in, day out, he simply cannot bring himself to accept that.”
Sir Keir hit back at the government saying they “sat” on the Intelligence and Security Committee’s (ISC) report for almost a year.
He said, “I want to ask the Prime Minister about the extremely serious report by the Intelligence and Security Committee.
“It concludes that Russia poses an immediate and urgent threat to our national security and is engaged in a range of activities that includes espionage, interfering in democratic processes and serious crime.
“The Prime Minister received that report 10 months ago. Given that the threat is described as immediate and urgent why on earth did the Prime Minister sit on that report for so long?”
The ISC found that Vladimir Putin’s administration have been “engaged in hostile foreign intelligence,” in the long-awaited report.
The report slammed MI5 the Security Service and criticised them over the “illogical” approach in not fully investigating how much the Kremlin had influenced Brexit.
Johnson tried to defend his position by adding, “The right honourable gentleman opposite sat on his hands and said nothing while the Labour Party parroted the line of the Kremlin when people in this country were poisoned at the orders of Vladimir Putin.”
The committee also said that the government were “actively” avoiding for interference during the Brexit EU referendum.
Stewart Hosei MP, said the government “badly underestimated” Russia’s threat towards the UK as ministers “did not want to know” and they “actively avoided looking for evidence,” with a “10-foot pole.”
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